CALL me naive, but I figured a taped radio show that runs the next day as if it were live would take about, oh, an hour and 10 minutes or so in real time to create its 50 minutes of air time.

But those of us lucky enough to catch the taping of NPR’s “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me” at the Pasadena Civic on Friday night know that you can be two hours down that road and still not be quite finished with the 50 minutes of frivolity and erudition we expect from Peter Sagal, Carl Kasell and other radio voices of renown.

It’s a testament to the show’s success that last time KPCC brought the news-quiz show to town seven years ago, it sold out one night at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium, capacity 1,150. This time, it twice sold out the Civic, capacity 3,029.

And, hey, the guest star in `02 was Randy Newman; this time it was pro skateboarder Tony Hawk on Thursday, Star-Treker George Takei on Friday. I’m not dissin’; I’m just sayin’. Anyway, Takei was pretty funny, and got a lot of mileage out of how everyone else from the original “Star Trek” cast came to his wedding to his longtime boyfriend except for William Shatner, with whom he has long feuded.

During the audience warm-up, panelist Roxanne Roberts of the Washington Post wondered out loud, “Is Glendale part of Pasadena?” The crowd quickly shouted in the negatory. “Well, we’re staying in Glendale,” noted panelist Mo Rocca. Quiet boos from the peanut gallery. Sagal: “I can see it now, Glendalians and Pasadenans, just like Sharks and Jets, fighting on the 134 Freeway.”

“Wait Wait” airs Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m. on 89.3.

Wednesday’s random notes: With another gig to get to, I kind of rushed in after leaving the office to the campus of Learning Works Monday night, knowing there was a bash there celebrating the nonprofit’s charter school, the student body of which is made up entirely of former drop-outs. I thought it would be, I don’t know, kids and a few parents, but it was instead almost the entire educational establishment of Pasadena – Renatta Cooper, Scott Phelps, Marge and Joe Wyatt, Carole and Mike Babcock, Ty Gaffney, Gayle Bluemel, Sen. Carol Liu – gathered to fete the success of Mikala Rahn’s efforts at what some call “plugging the school-to-prison pipeline.” I love that in order to keep kids in school, the charter uses “chasers” – young adults not much older than the students – to make sure they get to doctors, court appointments, other places kids in trouble without much in the way of involved parents need help getting to. Assemblyman Anthony Portantino and Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries gave speeches … Bobby Barrera, national commander, Disabled American Veterans: “While we celebrate our most recent accomplishments, we also think today of our fighting men and women who are serving in harm’s way. We wish for their safe return from the combat zone and that their efforts today bring about a more peaceful future. … And, we pray for a brighter future for our country. ”